News Brief: Robotics Institute Heads to DC for Robotics Week Event

The Robotics Institute's snake robots and orchard automation projects will be on display in Washington, D.C., April 17 as part of AUVSI Day on Capitol Hill, a National Robotics Week event that will highlight robotic and unmanned systems technology.

Sanjiv Singh and Marcel Bergerman of the Field Robotics Center will be sharing videos and other information regarding the Comprehensive Automation for Specialty Crops project, which is applying robotic technology to the operation of apple orchards. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cornell Wright, senior systems/software engineer, and other members of Howie Choset's Biorobotics Lab also will be on hand, putting one of the lab's famous snake robots through its paces. Applications for these robots now under study include search-and-rescue operations in collapsed buildings. Medrobotics Corp., a company co-founded by Choset, has licensed the technology for use in minimally invasive heart procedures.

Carnegie Mellon is a sponsor of the Capitol Hill event, along with AUVSI, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. It is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Rayburn Office Building Foyer. For more information, visit the AUVSI home page.